[Record Book and Laid-In Items on the Establishment of a Baptist Conference]

Pennsylvania, 1862. Very good. 7¾” x 6¼”. Blue paper-covered boards. 57 handwritten pages (about 8,500 words) + 12 items laid in and 87 blank pp. at rear. Very good: boards and pastedowns moderately soiled. Laid-in items creased at old folds, lightly dust-soiled and worn.

This is a handwritten record book, rich with membership lists, meeting notes and laid-in materials that reveal the efforts of Baptist churches in rural Pennsylvania uniting to form a “Confrens” [sic].

The tidy book has 107 dated entries between December 1836 and July 1843, with a dozen laid-in items dating 1841 to 1862. It lists (separately) the 26 males and 34 females involved in the work, which began when “a number of Baptist Brethren of different Churches met at the hous [sic] of Brother Edwin Smith in Bath.” They appointed leaders and delegates to visit other churches to “asertain [sic] their minds with regard to the propriety” of forming a union, and set plans for future meetings. An entry from January 1837 displays the group's “Articles of Faith,” including:

“16. We believe an Association of Churches both prudent and useful, that is, that a number of Churches in sister relation, mutually agree to meet by their delegates, at stated seasons, for free conference on the matters that concern the general good of the Churches, and the Zion of God at large.”

as well as the “Church Covinent [sic]”:

“3. We promis [sic] to keep a faithful watch over each other; to provoke each other to love and good works; to be tender of the persons, charicters [sic] and estates of all who are united with us; to be just in our dealings both among ourselves and all men; and do good as we have opportunity, especially to the hous-hold [sic] of faith.”

The book, and most of the laid-in items, concern the recommendation and acceptance of new members (about evenly split between “Brothers” and “Sisters”), listing names of individuals, churches and communities throughout the state. Thorough meeting notes detail “singing and prays,” the election of officers, association business, general “steadfastness in the laws of God” and a few dramatic disagreements and dismissals. Later entries focused on day-to-day activities at the Baptist church in Bath as well as interactions with “the Missionary Board and . . . their council.” Other laid-in items include a letterhead receipt for the Bath church's 1862 purchase of “The N.Y. Chronicle” and an invitation to a “Donation Visit” for the benefit of Reverend Edwin Brown “at his residence in Bath” in 1853.

A full and meticulous record book revealing mid-19th century Baptist activity in Pennsylvania. (Inventory #: 2847)